How the Galpagos Cormorant Got Its

Tiny Wings
COLD SPRING HARBOR, N.Y. Garbled signals from cellular antennas may
have grounded the Galpagos cormorant.
Galpagos cormorants (Phalacrocorax harrisi) are the only cormorant species with
wings too small to lift the birds large bodies off the ground. Broken primary cilia antennas
that cells need to receive key developmental messages left the cormorants with stunted
wings, UCLA evolutionary biologist Alejandro Burga suggested May 12 at the Biology of
Genomes meeting.
Burga and colleagues compared DNA of flightless Galpagos cormorants with that of
their close relatives, including double-crested cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus), which
have large wings and can fly. The researchers found more than 23,000 differences in more
than 12,000 genes. Those changes have occurred within the last 2 million years, a short time
by evolutionary standards.
Many of those genes probably have nothing to do with wing size. So Burga and
colleagues narrowed down which genes might have had the biggest effect on cormorant
evolution using a computer program that predicts whether a change in a gene will affect its
function. Genes that have mutations that damage function may have big evolutionary
consequences. Of the genes predicted to have altered function, the researchers selected the
3.3 percent that have changed most drastically in Galpagos cormorants.
To determine what these genes do, Burga examined whether any of the human
versions of these genes cause problems when they are mutated in people. Eight of the
banged-up genes were associated with limb defects caused by faulty primary cilia, hairlike
structures that grow from cells. The cilia receive signals important for the development and
proper functioning of cells (SN: 11/3/12, p.16). In people, genetic mutations that damage
primary cilia lead to a wide variety of diseases, including developmental defects.

Normal versions of those eight genes are necessary for primary cilia to pick up signals
sent by an important protein called hedgehog. Those genes are so crucial for normal
development that evolution has not allowed them to change much in 300 million years. Three
other genes that are mutated in the flightless cormorants affect other aspects of the primary
cilia. In people, mutant versions of all 11 cilia genes can cause small limbs, extra fingers and
short ribs, Burga said.
It wasnt clear whether the cilia defects were the primary cause of the birds
flightlessness. So Burga further narrowed his focus to 10 of the altered Galpagos cormorant
genes predicted by the computer program to give the biggest functional and evolutionary
disadvantages. Those genes would be the most important wing shrinkers, Burga and his
colleagues reasoned.
One of those top 10 candidates is a gene called CUX1. The protein it produces helps
turn on other genes. Vertebrates from primitive coelacanths to people have nearly identical
versions of the gene. But in flightless cormorants, four amino acids have been lost from the
protein, suggesting that it can no longer do its job or does it poorly. In chickens, a defective
form of CUX1 can shrink wings. That finding indicates the Galpagos cormorants altered
form of CUX1 might also make wings smaller because it fails to turn on limb growth genes.
Many researchers would have left the story at that point, says Ludovic Orlando, an
evolutionary biologist at the University of Copenhagen. But they didnt simply stop there,
Orlando says. They made an effort to validate their findings. Its unusual.
Burga and colleagues wondered whether CUX1 and the primary cilia changes were
related. The researchers injected cells used to mimic skeletal development in lab dishes with
the normal vertebrate version of CUX1. Activity levels of two cilia genes rose by about 50
percent. That is evidence that CUX1normally helps to regulate activity of primary cilia genes.
But the Galpagos cormorant version of CUX1 barely budged activity of the cilia
genes. It also was not as good at stimulating growth and development of bone cells as the
normal version, the researchers found. Those findings strengthen the case that CUX1 and
primary cilia together were involved in shrinking the flightless fowls wings.
Its still a mystery why Galpagos cormorants have normal size legs, Burga said.

Source:www.sciencenews.org